Best thriller movie questions of all time

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines picture

Question: In the second Terminator movie, the Terminator says that he can't self-terminate. When the Terminator is trying to defeat T-X, he manages to destroy himself and her in the process. If the Terminator couldn't self-terminate in the second movie, how come the new one could?

Answer: The difference there would be suicide vs sacrifice. In T2, basically what he meant is he could not commit suicide as it was against his programming. They had beat the T-1000 and had won, but it was too dangerous for Terminator to stick around and knew he had to be destroyed. But he could not purposely do it to himself as it was an act of suicide. However in T3, it was a sacrificial move. The goal of his actions was not to destroy himself, it was to take out the TX and prevent her from reaching John. He had to do this by any means necessary and made a sacrifice play by shoving his core into her mouth and blowing them both up. It wasn't suicide this way, it wasn't self termination. He was taking her out but caused himself to be collateral damage.

Quantom X

Also, after watching that scene again, I'm adding this little tidbit. The Terminator didn't actually die from the thing he did to the TX in that move. If you notice towards the end after the nuclear bombs go off, the fall out ash is falling down around its head and its eyes are still on, slowly fading away. It was badly damaged by its move, but the bombs in the end finished him off.

Quantom X

Answer: For me, T2 was a lot about machines being able to learn so in T3 when he managed to shut himself down it was because he had learned compassion and not to be just a machine following orders as well as understanding how vital it was that John survived.

The_Iceman

Answer: If you listen in the second film, I don't remember if it was cut out of the theatrical film and put back in the extended version or not, John and Terminator are in the desert looking at the guns Terminator says "I have to stay functional until the missions is complete." Once the T1000 is dead Terminator had no other reason to function and thus sacrificed himself. In this film he knows the fuel cell would destroy the TX once that happened his mission was completed and no longer had any real reason to function anyone.

That can't be the case, because by the end of T2 his mission was complete, and he still couldn't self terminate.

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Memento picture

Question: I still don't understand why Leonard switches clothes with Jimmy and steals his car after he kills him. "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." That makes absolutely no sense. Driving around in Jimmy's car and wearing his suit would make him the prime suspect in the investigation. He was much safer when he was just an anonymous guy driving around in a pickup truck.

Answer: It is never explicitly given. The most Leonard says on the subject is: "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." Speculations include (you can make up your own motives as well) : (1) The clothes and car are so much nicer than his. If you are willing to kill someone: stealing is not really a "crime." Why not take the nicer objects? (2) It could be part of his "routine": Kill a man, take his clothes and car. The clothes he had on and the truck may be from the man he killed a year ago. (3) It could be that he wants to make the killer of his wife suffer even more, and takes his clothes as a way of humiliating him. Leonard takes the man's life-his clothes and car, which are wrapped up in his identity-just as the man took his. This idea seems to work with a theme in Memento about "Identity" (especially mistaken identity). Natalie thinks Leonard is Jimmy, then thinks he is Teddy, then learns he is Leonard. Teddy is "mistaken" for the second killer, Jimmy is "mistaken" for the 2nd killer. Sammy's story as a part of Leonard's story, etc. (4) It could "simply" be explained as a "plot device": Leonard has to do it, otherwise he won't find the note in "his pocket" and meet Natalie. (5) Leonard doesn't want to admit he's a murderer. He's lying to himself. If he's the victim, then he cannot be the murderer. (6) Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing as part of his routine of killing J.G.'s he becomes another person, he's the victim not the killer, thus "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." and that's why he also takes his car, so he has to, once again, find his wife's killer and kill him.

Answer: Leonard's only goal in life was to find his wife's killer, and he thought he had just achieved that. With nothing more to live for, the clothes would attract the attention of Jimmy's associates - a method of suicide as indirect as his eventual approach to killing Teddy.

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Deep Blue Sea picture

Question: Was there supposed to be some more of the scene between Carter and Susan after she had killed the third shark?

Answer: I assume you are referring to the scene after Susan killed the second shark (she was killed before the third shark was killed). The comments LL makes to finish that scene do seem a little out of place with what they were talking about but the film does have a number of scenes cut out. Most of the deleted scenes on the DVD deal with character development and dialogue but there is no evidence the scene was cut as the DVD's deleted scenes dont have any extra footage on that scene or alternate dialogue.

Lummie

Answer: Yes, Susan and Carter actually share a kiss in the original ending. They grew smitten with one another in unreleased deleted scenes leading up to it. The kiss is interrupted by Sherman "Preacher" Dudley clearing his throat, who's still recovering from his wounds. This, of course, was part of the unreleased original ending that was changed at the last minute due to test audiences wanting Susan to die. The footage was never released but there are stills from said kiss and this was how it was scripted to end. Fans started a petition on the Change site asking Warner to release the original ending and even Thomas Jane is promoting it on his Instagram account. But as of now, the ending has yet to be released.

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Hitman picture

Question: What are the little clear beads that Agent 47 puts down before his hotel room door after he rejects the blonde girl at the bar? They seem to release some kind of gas when the FSB raids his room but I thought they were only put down so he would hear them be crushed when stepped on (which would be impossible to hear if he were doing anything else other than listening for them).

Answer: The reason for the beads being put down was so he could hear if someone stepped on them. Notice how he heard them after Diana said his location was compromised. The beads never released any gas. The smoke filling the room could have either been caused by the explosive device he attached to the door which set most of the room on fire or, they could have been smoke grenades throw into the room by the FSB in an attempt to apprehend 47 although they were unaware he had already escaped.

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Orphan picture

Question: Maybe I missed something, but how was Esther able to fool everyone practically all her life and hide the fact that she's a 33-year old sociopath? When Kate finally learns the truth by getting the phone call, they show a photo of the "real" Esther, so at least those records of her exist somewhere. How could the boarding school not have known her true identity?

Answer: The boarding school was going by the falsified records that Esther had with her. They did not suspect anything, so they had no reason to dig any further at the time.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: High quality makeup was an important part of her disguise as the alternative ending make apparent. Her fake freckles were the master's touch.

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The Godfather: Part II picture

Question: In the flashback of Vito Corleone's return to Corleone, Sicily with his young family, his wife is shown holding a baby in a bonnet in several scenes. On the train he is talking to an older child and calling him Michael. Who is the baby?

Answer: The baby would be Connie Corleone, sister to Sonny, Fredo, and Michael. She was the youngest child, though Michael was the youngest of the brothers.

raywest

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Total Recall picture

Question: Does the movie give any indication with any evidence in the movie that Douglas is dreaming for the ending?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Verhoeven points out that if a viewer believes the whole film is a dream, then Edgemar's prediction that Quaid will end up being lobotomized is fulfilled in the fade to white which ends the movie.

Answer: When Dr. Edgemar is in the hotel room with Quaid and Lori, Quaid puts a gun to Edgemar's head and says that if it's all a dream, that Quaid could just pull the trigger and it wouldn't really matter. Edgemar goes into details about consequences of what would happen if Quaid killed him. As seen, when Quaid kills Edgemar the walls of the hotel room crash down, Quaid believes he's the rebel savior, had visions of alien civilization and is best friends with Cohaagen and the white light that is at the end of the movie indicates that Quaid was lobotomized.

Also, consider the end when Quaid and Melina are on the surface of Mars, suffocating. Their eyes are bulging, the Mars atmosphere is burning their lungs, and their faces are bloated. Yet a few minutes later they're perfectly normal and having a romantic kiss.

Answer: There are many signs that the adventure was reality. When Quaid watched the news (before going to Rekall), the newscasters asked Cohaagen about Kuato and alien artifacts (the alien reactor) in the Mars Pyramid Mine. Lori didn't want Quaid going to Mars or thinking about Mars. Harry didn't want Quaid to go to Rekall, as he sounded very intense when he said this to Quaid. The Rekall technicians popped Quaid's memory cap before they could implant his ego trip. Richter and Helm were watching Quaid the whole time and his trip to Rekall made them attempt to kill him before he could remember the alien reactor and his previous identity. Edgemar lied when he said Quaid's "dream" started in the middle of the implant procedure when Dr. Lull had told McClane they hadn't implanted the ego trip yet. Edgemar shouldn't have been sweating if it was a dream. Richter, Helm, Lori, Edgemar, and Benny were all trying to help Cohaagen keep his evil power and prevent Mars from having free air.

This isn't true. The DVD commentary states that if the viewer is believing that the story is a dream, then it begins right where the camera cuts to McClane and his female client watching the TV monitor. The bit where Quaid resists and Renata says she hasn't implanted the ego trip yet are part of the dream. The clue is that McClane's statement is "the trip is as real as any memory in your head." So for it to come across as real, it has to begin right there and then.

If Lori is really Quaid's wife, it seems strange that he would dream of her trying to kill him. When Richter and Helm are trying to kill Quaid, several people get killed in the crossfire. When Edgemar and Lori visit Quaid, Lori gives Edgemar a look right before he takes out the red pill, almost as if Lori is signaling Edgemar to do that. They are awfully eager for Quaid to take that pill, and the film's novelization states that the pill could possibly be a knockout dose or lethal. If Edgemar is a projection, he should not be sweating, which makes Quaid realise Edgemar is real. Those four agents who blast through the wall were back there listening to the conversation and waiting to see if Edgemar's plan with the pill would work. Richter and Helm were downstairs in the bar waiting to hear from Lori and Edgemar that they captured Quaid. If Edgemar was telling the truth, why would Richter and Helm be down in the bar waiting? Also, the novel points more toward reality.

You are forgetting to assume the dream shows him stuff that didn't actually happen, like innocents being killed in crossfire. If it is all a dream it all doesn't matter, he is being fed lies by the implants, about his wife, about Cohaagen, about everything, the fact it connects to real events before he went to Recall (which don't show the truth at all) just shows the ingenuity of the implants, who use his memories to create the story. Edgemar sweating could be another illusion caused by the implants. If it really is all a dream the moment he killed Edgemar the implants screwed his brain up enough there was no way of knowing what was real anymore, and his wife is sitting besides him at Recall crying that he isn't going to wake up anymore, whilst Quaid is experiencing killing her in his dream. This then goes on for him until the end it lobotomizes him. That is, if you believe it was a dream.

lionhead

There is a villains site called Villains Wiki. Edgemar is listed on this site along with Cohaagen, Richter, Helm, Lori, Harry, and Benny. The article about Edgemar states that Quaid realises Edgemar is working for Cohaagen when he sees him sweating. It also states that Edgemar's goal is to aid Cohaagen in his plans. Also mentioned is the fact that Richter is Lori's real husband and is angered when Quaid kills her the same way he kills Edgemar.

Answer: The novel also reveals another detail that indicates reality. Before it is revealed that Richter is Lori's real husband, Quaid doesn't seem to love Lori. He dreams of Melina every night and actually loves Melina despite being with Lori. Quaid wonders why Lori married him, and she doesn't seem to have aged since their wedding. Once Lori reveals that their eight years together is actually a six-week memory implant, Quaid realises that is why his eight year memory of Lori hasn't changed. When Lori tries to detain Quaid for Richter and Helm at the Hilton Hotel, she tries to kill Melina because she knows Melina is Quaid's dream girl.

Answer: The novel by Piers Anthony has other signs that indicate Quaid's adventure was reality. When Richter and Helm are looking for Quaid on Earth, it says the bug in Quaid's head alerted them about his trip to Rekall. Richter and Helm went to Rekall to question the Rekall staff and dispatch them. When Richter and Helm are chasing Quaid and Melina on Mars, Quaid asks Melina if she has ever heard of Rekall, and she tells him she used to model for Rekall, which explains why Quaid saw Melina's face on the screen during his implant procedure at Rekall. Furthermore, Edgemar tells Quaid he is still at Rekall strapped in the implant chair, but McClane told the other Rekall staff members to dump Quaid in the Johnnycab and send him home. So it doesn't make sense that Quaid is still at Rekall after they sent him home.

Answer: The "dream" is when Quaid thinks Lori is his wife. Lori is really Richter's wife. The dreams Quaid had of Melina were visions reminding him of his past life.

Answer: Edgemar's red pill may have been a knockout dose so Richter, Helm, and Lori could take Quaid to Cohaagen. The red pill could also have possibly been poison, like cyanide. The pill wouldn't have returned Quaid to reality because he was still in reality.

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Chosen answer: In the extended version, it is revealed to be Michael Myers.

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi picture

Question: How come this movie barely showed anything about Luke and Leia's mother? Luke doesn't even ask anyone what her name was (maybe that was hidden from Leia, but he can probably guess that Yoda or Obi-wan would know). I know we can assume that she was discussed off-screen, but they could have revealed a little more about her.

Answer: The Jedi are shown to have something of a blind spot in regards to matters of the heart. Note that when Luke confronts Obi-Wan over lying to him about his father's fate, Obi-Wan's response is haughty and defensive, and gives Luke nothing in terms of regret or apology. They're focused on their mission, not on how Luke feels. Why waste time, in their eyes, telling Luke about his mother? If they had their way, he wouldn't even know about his father. The prequels would make this more explicit, showing that the Jedi are conditioned from the beginning to let go of all "passions" because they could so easily be corrupted, and their inability to understand Anakin's emotions just contributes to his downfall.

TonyPH

Answer: Why can we assume that she was discussed off-screen? Luke's got more important things to talk about than who his mother was. Yoda dies shortly afterwards and Luke's understandably more interested in how Darth Vader, given that he's got to go up against him, can be his father when talking to Obi-wan's ghost shortly after. Not a lot of time for general chit-chat. Behind the scenes, at that point, very little would have been decided about their mother, as it would be irrelevant to the plot of the trilogy and to discuss her on-screen would have wasted time and slowed everything down.

Tailkinker

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Ghost picture

Question: Why was Carl laundering $4 million into the account? Was he in debt when he says to Willie "I'm dead if the account closes", which it does?

Joey221995

Answer: Carl is laundering money for drug dealers. If the account is closed and he can't get the money back then it would be lost. The drug dealers would then most assuredly murder him in retribution.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Saw II picture

Question: At the end of the film, when they go back into the bathroom from the first, I noticed that they had shown 2 people. They showed the man from the first, chained to the piped in the corner. And then they showed a face of someone on the floor. Who was this?

Sir William

Answer: It was Zep, but he died because Adam smashed his head with a toilet seat cover.

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Answer: He could have looked up her address in the phone book. Just before Bruce arrives at Vikki's apartment, Joker asks Bob the Goon for - a phone book. Also he could have been tailing Bruce and found her apartment that way, after all he does show up not long after Bruce does.

Alan Keddie

Chosen answer: She's a semi-famous reporter/photographer. It would be fairly easy (especially for a criminal) to find her home.

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Black Dog picture

Question: Why did Jack pull into the weigh station when Earl told him not to?

Answer: It would have been suspicious if he didn't do it.

Answer: Drive by an inspection station that is open and let me know how far you got before being stopped. Unless you have preclearance you must go through scale.

Answer: At this point in the movie, Jack did not know who was giving Red their location. He suspected it to be Earl, so he went the opposite way that Earl told him because he assumed they would have run into Red if he took 85 like Earl said.

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The Amityville Horror picture

Question: Who did the demonic voice that told the priest blessing the house to get out?

Answer: George Lutz.

How was it accomplished?

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Cloverfield picture

Question: I was wondering, and I've seen the movie, do Rob and Beth live? And will there be a number 2?

Answer: Whilst they have made a second film, 10 Cloverfield Lane, it does not have much, if anything at all, to do with the first film. So we aren't told what happened to Rob and Beth.

Alan Keddie

Answer: We will not know unless they make a sequel. Right now they are still deciding if they want to make a sequel or not.

SAZOO1975

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Frequency picture

Question: Why did John's house suddenly alter so drastically when Jack's hand was blown off in the past? Did this one event somehow turn John into a better interior decorator?

quinnnmallory

Answer: Because the house is no longer John's. In this universe, his parents still live there.

Brian Katcher

Or he lives there and his wife redecorated.

I always took the scene at the end with Julia and Frank getting in a packed car with an older looking Elvis as them moving and leaving the house for John. And as I said above John's wife must have moved in and decorated.

Answer: The house changed because John's life changed, with both his parents alive to nurture and guide him, he became a different person. Different lifestyle and attitudes.

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Mission: Impossible picture

Question: Did Ethan actually know it was a mole hunt to trap Jim, or was he oblivious until he worked it out at the train station?

Answer: Ethan never thought it was a mole hunt to trap Jim. He found out from Kittridge at the restaurant that it was a mole hunt, but Kittridge believes that Ethan is the mole (the money his parents mysteriously receive). At the station Ethan realises that Jim must be the mole since it is too convenient both he and his wife survived. However, the hunt to catch the mole was never directed at Jim - Kittridge never suspected him until at the end when he sees Jim alive.

swordfish

Actually had suspicions before Jim showed up. Ethan found the Bible that was stamped from the Drake Hotel. Where Jim had literally just come back from before the mission. It made no sense otherwise why that would be in Jim's possession.

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Question: Just before Sherlock attacks somebody, he determines what areas to strike to incapacitate someone and determine how long it would take someone to recover from both physical and psychological trauma. Granted that he could figure out a person's physical recovery but, could he actually figure out a person's pyshological recovery? He noted that it would take six months if I remember for a guy to recover psychologically but, to me, Sherlock is just taking a wild guess. Especially, if the guy recovered in half the time.

Answer: I believe that particular line was him making a joke to himself about the man's pride.

Quantom X

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Training Day picture

Question: When Denzel and Ethan go to visit the Spanish gangsters towards the end and Denzel gives the presents, Is the money inside the blender for them to kill Ethan's character or simply he owed some money? If then the money wasn't for them to kill him what reason did they have to kill him?

Lummie

Chosen answer: The money to kill Hawke was in the kitchen appliance box.

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Answer: It's something done to one trooper in a unit who is not pulling his load, to let him know his teammates are tired of him making them look bad. It can range from a beating after lights out to scrubbing a soldier who won't shower with toilet brushes and Comet. (And yes, both of those are from my own military experience, though I wasn't the victim!) It's meant to give a warning and doesn't normally harm anything but the victim's pride. They are strongly against regulations in the past year or two as several soldiers were injured by their unit getting overzealous, just like in the movie.

Grumpy Scot

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